I plan to use this book as a background for why Shakespeare wrote what he wrote and to incorporate how his childhood and life experiences play parts in his works - his philosophy is inspired and affected by what was happening around him and how he responded to that. I hope that my next book will focus solely on Hamlet and how Shakespeare's personal experience with his son, Hamnet's, death encouraged/inspired him to write the Hamlet we know today. This book gave me the first stepping stones in discovering how his personal experiences affected his writings and beliefs/philosophy (and vise versa - how his philosophy and beliefs affected what he wrote about).
Friday, March 6, 2015
How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
My research topic is exploring Shakespeare and his views on philosophy in relation to the specific work of Hamlet. To begin the research process, I read Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt. This book is an overview of how Shakespeare's childhood and life experiences affected his future career and works as a playwright. Shakespeare's father held important civic offices in their town of Stratford-upon-Avon, allowing the family to have many connections with the happenings of the town/country. One important aspect that particularly benefited Shakespeare was when traveling troupes of actors came to perform, with the approval of the queen or nobles. From their plays and stories, Shakespeare was inspired. Many of his most famous works are based off of the basic story lines of said plays. His plays also incorporate many of the religious connotation that the plays he saw as a child possessed. These actors were not the only inspiration for Shakespeare, though. In school, specifically during Latin lessons, plays such as The Two Menaechmuses were performed, which allowed the students to practice their Latin. From these, Shakespeare first experienced theatre and the concept of plays. These two specific experiences helped Shakespeare's love for writing and theatre grow, making him one of the best playwrights, if not the best, in the world.
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Abby, what an interesting topic to write about! I find it interesting the part about the fact that his plays are based off the plays that he acted in with the troupe in his youth, it makes me wonder just how much of those plays he borrowed for his own. I'd also be really interested to know what exactly inspired him to become an actor, like, what was that breakthrough? Anyways, it looks like you're making great progress in your research and I can't wait to see the final product!
ReplyDeleteAbby, what an interesting topic to write about! I find it interesting the part about the fact that his plays are based off the plays that he acted in with the troupe in his youth, it makes me wonder just how much of those plays he borrowed for his own. I'd also be really interested to know what exactly inspired him to become an actor, like, what was that breakthrough? Anyways, it looks like you're making great progress in your research and I can't wait to see the final product!
ReplyDeleteI'm genuinely glad to see that you chose this topic. I personally know very little about Shakespeare, except for the obvious fact that he is a celebrity of history for his praised work. I would really like to read the final product of your research paper not only to further my knowledge on William Shakespeare's early life and influences, but to culture myself on one of history's greatest playwrights of all time. I would also love to know, what was his breakthrough moment? When did he first use all of his skill, and make it big?
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